Chris Richardson

inflation doesn't care, if you like, whether an extra dollar got spent by a federal government, a state government, a family, a business, whatever.

All that inflation cares about is how much spending and title we're getting relative to our ability to supply that spending.

Again, I'd go back to that basic equation, too much money chasing too little stuff.

And that's, I think, some of the frustration.

I'm not one of those people who thinks the Reserve Bank can or should jump up and down about governments.

That's not their role.

They are there to fight inflation.

And the politicians, to be fair to them, they have a different role.

And

Politics being what it is, sometimes they are going to make the task of inflation fighting harder with their decisions.

That's what it is.

I don't expect the governor of the day or the Reserve Bank to be jumping up and down about what governments do.

That's not how it works.

If you want an assessment of what governments are or aren't doing,

There's plenty of people out there who can give opinions.

You can't necessarily expect the Reserve Bank to be the part of government to be jumping up and down about the rest of government.

Best way to measure debt is not gross debt, it's net debt.

If I've got a big housing loan, but I've got a bunch of money in the bank, I'm better off than somebody who's got the same loan, but no money in the bank.

The net...

of our financial assets is important.